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The Stone of Scone a/k/a The Stone of Destiny on display at Edinburgh Castle with the Scottish Crown Jewels. |
Back in 1996 the Conservative Government of the United Kingdom led by John
Major—Maggie Thatcher lite in trousers—was getting a little nervous about how long Her Majesty’s Kingdom might be united.
Suffering through the tail end of
a steep recession and continuing Tory
attacks on the “power” of the Trade Union movement, social services, and the dole had helped to revive long simmering
resentment in Scotland. Specifically Major was edgy about growing cries for increased Scottish
autonomy, a small but growing nationalist
movement, and the intimidating
glower of Sean Connery.
Major, a master of the empty gesture,
decided to placate the Scots by
announcing on July 3, 1996 that the legendary
Stone of Scone would be returned to Scotland for safe keeping—at least until it was needed for the coronation of the next monarch.
The Stone’s origins traced back to mythic
prehistory. On it the Kings of Scotland had been enthroned for hundreds of years until Edward I of England made off with the heavy object as a spoil of war in 1296. Edward
hauled it to London and Westminster Abbey, where he had it fitted into a wooden chair, known as King Edward’s Chair, on which most subsequent English sovereigns have been
crowned. It was a humiliating thumb of the nose to the Scots and a symbolic claim to be Lord Paramount of Scotland and the superior to any Scottish monarch.
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Prince Andrew, right, presided over the ceremony turning over custody of the Coronation Stone to the Scots. |
The 336 pound Stone, about the size
and shape of a suitcase, was
removed from Edward’s Chair with great
care and ceremony and was transported with honor to the Scottish border for
a transfer ceremony between
representatives of the Home Office
and of the Scottish Office on
November 15, 1996. It was taken from
there to Edinburgh Castle, arriving
on St. Andrew’s Day November
30. At a ceremony in which Queen Elizabeth II was represented by Prince Andrew it was formally turned over to Scottish custody—with the proviso that the next time it was needed
would the Scotts kindly send it back to
London for the next coronation. The fact that the next likely person to require the Stone’s use—Prince Charles—was not on hand may be a clue that the English were not
entirely sure they would ever get it back.
At any rate the Stone of Scone remains at the Castle and is on display to the public along with the
long unused Crown Jewels of Scotland.
Some, however, believe the Stone was
not the Stone at all—that the Monks of Monastery of Scone, a few miles
north of Perth—had secreted the real stone, possibly at King Macbeth’s old castle at Dunsinane, and let Edward make off with
a counterfeit. To untangle the tale, it is best to start
at the beginning—if we can find it.
Legend has it that the Stone a/k/a
the Stone of Destiny, The Coronation Stone, Jacob’s Pillow Stone, the Tanist Stone, and in Scottish Gaelic clach-na-cinneamhain—it has more aliases than ten fugitives
from justice—originated in Ireland. One
tale credits the Dál Riata Gaels who
established a kingdom spanning parts of what is now Ulster and Argyle
carved out of the Pict Kingdom around the 4th or 5th
Century. This is dismissed by most
scholars.
More
enduring is the story that the first King of the Scots, Fergus Son
of Erc, brought the stone from Ireland and was crowned on it having defeated
and overwhelmed the Picts before the year 500. The stone was said to have been part of the Lia Fáil,
the coronation stone of the High Kings
of Tara. The Picts were another group of related
Celtic tribes who held sway over the
eastern and northern parts of what is now Scotland, You may remember that were
called the Caledonii by the Romans in Britain and gave them such fits that Hadrian built his great wall
to keep them out.
This is the foundation myth of Scotland.
But the Picts were never really
conquered by the waves of Irish known as the Scotts. Over a period of two or three hundred years
the kingdoms of the Dál Riata
and the Picts danced around various
relationships before merging into the Kingdom
of Alba—Scotland—before 900. If the Dál Riata or Scottish kings were crowned the
Stone, it was probably not until King
Donald II, that the Stone would have been used for the coronation of a somewhat united nation. Donald was the first to be styled rí Alban—King of Alba.
The Stone was said to be an
important symbol in the struggle to bring the various Celtic peoples into full
conformity with the Catholic
Church. The Church propagated an entirely new myth, that
it was the stone used as a pillow by
the Israelite patriarch Jacob at Bet-El when he had a vision
from God and was brought to Ireland
by the prophet Jeremiah and from
there to Scotland.
Originally said to be held in lost
city of Evonium in Ayershire, the Stone was kept at the Monastery of Scone and thus in the hands of the Church from around
1,000. Claimants to the throne had to journey to the Abby for coronation thus
placing themselves under the blessing
and protection of the Church.
There the stone sat and was sat on through the sometimes tempestuous succession of Scottish kings through the time of the Norman Conquest of Britain. At first the Scotts were quasi-allies of the Normans, raiding
the English coast with impunity as William
the Conqueror ravaged the kingdom of the Angles and Saxons. The Royal
houses intermarried somewhat and the
Scottish Court began to ape French styles and customs. But a clash
was inevitable.
When Alexander II died in an unfortunate
fall from his horse in 1286 he left
no direct heirs essentially ending the Dunkeld
Dynasty that had ruled since Malcolm
III in 1068. He named his
granddaughter Margaret, Maid of Norway as
his heir, but she was quickly deposed. In fact, she never sat on the Stone and was never
crowned or even set foot in Scotland.
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John Balliol, the last King of Scotland enthroned on the Stone of Scone, offers homage to Edward I of England, fat lot of good it did him. |
Several claimants, none very closely connected to the royal house were put
forward. But in 1291 John
Balliol, who traced a
relation to David I King of the
Scots from 1124–1153 through his mother won the crown after a judgment of a panel of arbiters while England’s Edward I held the realm in
supposed stewardship over his main rival Robert Bruce whose claim was slightly more distant yet. Both Balliol and Bruce, however, were
essentially Anglo-Norman noblemen. Balliol was dutifully enthroned at Scone
but did not hold power long.
Edward compelled Balliol to appear before the
English Parliament on essentially trumped
up charges and held for ransom
in exchange for the Scotts levying taxes
and raising arms for his wars in France.
Balloil was forced to admit
fealty to the English king. He was stripped of the authority to govern by
the Council Sterling. The Council concluded an alliance with the French in retaliation and Edward invaded. Despite all of this as Balliol took to the field as the Scottish king
took but was forced to abdicate
after the Scotts were defeated at Dunbar
Castle on April 27 on 1296.
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Edward I steeling the Stone. |
To assert his primacy over Scotland
and any future Scottish kings, Edward took the Stone of Scone from the Abby and
took it with him to London where he incorporated it into the chair for the
coronation of English kings.
That meant that the unfortunate John
Balliol was the last King of Scotland
crowned upon the historic stone.
After an interim without a monarch and rebellions
against the English led by William
Wallace, Robert the Bruce, grandson of John Balliol’s old rival, was able
to claim the Crown after murdering his
chief rival. Robert led a succession of wars against the English
and against his rivals in Scotland and with a firm ally in the French was
finally able to have Scotland recognized
as a completely independent Kingdom and in no way a vassal state of the English king.
This makes The Bruce the great
national hero of the Scotts.
But alas, neither the heroic Bruce
nor any of his successors including the Stewart
and Stuart dynasties that
originated with the Bruce’s grandson Robert
II 1371 enjoyed the symbolic
legitimacy of having been crowned on the Stone.
Under the Treaty of Northampton 1328 between the Kingdom of Scotland and the
Kingdom of England, England agreed to return the captured Stone to Scotland.
However, riotous crowds prevented it from being removed from Westminster
Abbey. Those rioters may, or may not
have been encouraged by the Crown to circumvent the treaty it had just
signed.
When James VI of Scotland, son of Mary
Queen of Scotts came to the English throne as James I of England, first to the Stuart Dynasty he did so on the Coronation Chair containing the Stone. This united the two crowns while each nation
remained, theoretically anyway, independent. From that time onward—interrupted by the Cromwell’s Commonwealth—until the
reign of Queen Anne united England and
Scotland as a single sovereign state, the Kingdom of Great Britain 1707, monarchs of Scotland were again
crowned on the Stone, but only because the simultaneously
were enthroned as English Kings or Queens.
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The Stone in the English Coronation Chair. |
Since the ascent of the German House of Hanover with George I in 1714 British monarchs have
been elevated on the Stone. That
includes the most recent and current occupant, Elizabeth II of the re-named House
of Windsor in 1953.
In later years geologists examined the Stone that Edward captured and discovered
that it was made of a variety of red
sandstone quarried not far from Scone.
That meant one of two things—that the whole legend of Irish origin which gave it legitimacy was a fraud or that Edward had been fooled and a counterfeit stone was pawned off on him while the real stone was
hidden by the Monks of Scone somewhere for safekeeping.
A firm belief by many Scotts in the second alternative has, over the
centuries played out in very interesting ways.
A new legend arose in which
when the Stone was found again, a new
and legitimate king would be enthroned who would inaugurate not just the restoration of Scotland, but a grand pan-Gaelic empire uniting Ireland,
Scotland, and Celtic regions on the English Border but perhaps Wales and even Britany in France. It was
sort of a Scottish version of the English return-of-the-king
prophesies arising from the Arthurian
legend.
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Some believe that the real Stone of Scone is hidden beneath the ruins of Macbeth's castle at Dunsinane. |
Rumors of the Stone’s hiding place
set off many a fruitless quest. Many of those rumors centered on Macbeth’s castle at Dunsinane.
For instance in 1818 The
Chronicle in London printed this curious account:
On the 19th of November, as the servants belonging to the
West Mains of Dunsinane-house, were employed in carrying away stones from the
excavation made among the ruins that point out the site of Macbeth’s castle
here, part of the ground they stood on suddenly gave way, and sank down about
six feet, discovering a regularly built vault, about six feet long and four
wide. None of the men being injured, curiosity induced them to clear out the
subterranean recess, when they discovered among the ruins a large stone,
weighing about 500 lb. which is pronounced to be of the meteoric or
semi-metallic kind. This stone must have lain here during the long series of
ages since Macbeth’s reign. Besides it were also found two round tablets, of a
composition resembling bronze. On one of these two lines are engraved, which a
gentleman has thus deciphered.— “The sconce (or shadow) of kingdom come, until
Sylphs in air carry me again to Bethel.” These plates exhibit the figures of
targets for the arms. From time immemorial it has been believed among us here,
that unseen hands brought Jacob’s pillow from Bethel and dropped it on the site
where the palace of Scoon now stands. A strong belief is also entertained by
many in this part of the country that it was only a representation of this
Jacob’s pillow that Edward sent to Westminster, the sacred stone not having
been found by him. The curious here, aware of such traditions, and who have
viewed these venerable remains of antiquity, agree that Macbeth may, or rather
must, have deposited the stone in question at the bottom of his Castle, on the
hill of Dunsinane (from the trouble of the times), where it has been found by
the workmen.
This curious stone has been shipped for London for the
inspection of the scientific amateur, in order to discover its real quality.
If such a stone was shipped to
London, it has never been found. But, trust me, someone is at this moment rummaging through basements and sewers searching for it. Perhaps, even, it is the next quest of that eminent
symbologist Robert Langdon.
As a symbol of the Crown, the
Coronation Chair and Stone has also been the target of political violence.
On June 11, 1914, a lady’s
handbag, containing a bomb, was
hung on the back of the Chair in Westminster Abby. Exploding shortly after public
viewing hours closed at around 5:50 p.m. it blew off part of the carved
work at the back of the chair. Although no individual was charged with
carrying out the attack, Suffragettes
were blamed because they were angry over the passage of the recent Cat and Mouse Act. That Act of Parliament officially known as
the Prisoners (Temporary Discharge for
Ill Health) Act 1913 which ordered Suffragettes in prison and staging hunger strikes to be released upon falling ill, but subject to re-arrest and imprisonment as soon as they recovered. Police
reports indicated that the damage to the Chair was minor, but made no
mention of damage to the Stone.
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Three of the young Scotts who stole the Stone in 1950--Gavin Vernon, Kay Matheson, and Ian Hamilton. |
In 1950 the Stone became the center of a plot by romantic young Scottish nationalists
which would make a hell of a good caper movie, perhaps with comic overtones. On Christmas
Day four students, Ian Hamilton,
Gavin Vernon, Kay Matheson, and Alan
Stuart somehow took the Stone
from Westminster Abbey for return to Scotland and in the process managed to drop the heavy object breaking it into two pieces. The largest piece was, I kid you not, buried at a Gypsy camp site in Kent. The exact
hiding place of the second half has not
been determined. The four plotters returned to Scotland where at
the University of Glasgow they recruited the assistance of a sympathetic English student, John Josselyn, ironically a lineal decedent of Edward I, to smuggle it across the border.
A few days later the smaller piece
was retrieved, but at a stop at Leeds, the young folks could not resist a little
celebration—and libation taking
the Stone to nearby Ilkley Moor, a wild and beautiful place fraught legendary significance where they serenaded it with the traditional Yorkshire folk song On Ilkla Moor Baht ‘at (On Ilkley Moor without your hat.) This lighthearted
bit of business disposed of, the small fragment was reunited with the other. The fragments were passed to a senior Glasgow politician who arranged
for it to be professionally repaired by
stonemason Robert Graytaken.
Despite a frantic hunt and the amateur
status of the plotters, the British authorities were not able to find the
Stone, although they must have known it was in Scotland somewhere. On April 11, 1951 the stone was placed on the altar in the ruins of Arbroath Abbey where they believed the Church of Scotland would take protective care of it and not allow
its return. Of course as soon as
authorities got wind of it, they swooped
in and seized the stone, returning it to London in plenty of time for Queen Elizabeth’s investiture two years
later.
Of course some claim the students
only left a replica, fooling the English once again, and that the stone from
Edward’s chair, which if you remember itself may have been a phony, lays
securely in hiding.
The whole thing resembles a giant historical shell game—stone, stone,
who’s got the stone.
As for the students, their identity
was veiled but when reveled were not
prosecuted. It seems that the Crown could not prove that it was the legal owner of the stone and did not want to risk a ruling to that effect in
court. Some of the culprits went on to distinguished
careers. Ian Hamilton became a lawyer and a leader of the Scottish Nationalist Party. He authored
an account of the caper in a bestselling
book, The Taking of the Stone of Destiny on which a 2008 movie Stone
of Destiny was indeed made and in which Hamilton appeared in a cameo.
Meanwhile Scottish restlessness has
continued, even risen, even after the establishment of a Scottish National Parliament in 1998. On September 18, 2014 Scots voted in a referendum on independence. The question will be simply put—“Should
Scotland be an independent country?” It
was a close fought issue but the electorate narrowly opted to remain in
the United Kingdom. Given the closeness of that vote, the narrow victory for leaving the European Union—most Scots opposed Brexit and favor continued,
and the draconian austerity measures of
the current Tory Government under Prime Minister Theresa May there is a rising clamor for a new vote on independence.
Franz, Duke of Bavaria, is the current Stuart pretender and according to Jacobites the rightful King Francis II. The chances of him being crowned King of Scotland on the Stone are slim and none. |
Most Scottish Nationalists are now
also fervent republicans although there are some monarchists who still support
a Stuart restoration. The current
Stuart Pretender is Franz, Duke of Bavaria, a lineal descendant of Charles I and styled Francis II by unreconstructed Jacobites. It
is hard to imagine a scenario where
he would be crowned King of the Scots
on Stone of Scone.
But it is an open question if Prince Charles may ever sit over it and assume either a united crown, or an
English one.
This is a wonderful rollicking yarn and very entertaining So the sword in the stone might have been embedded in the true Stone of Scone which lies somewhere and the fake is the revered relic. Love it.
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